A decent enough football match took place here but instead we are left, as is seemingly the lawmakers’ preference, to obsess over handball. This was perhaps the worst among a long list of maddening recent decisions brought about by a rule that goes against the sport’s very essence, given the way it transformed the outcome against all logic and fairness. Newcastle had barely laid a glove on Tottenham when they were presented with the chance to equalise deep into injury time; Callum Wilson duly took the penalty but it said everything that the visiting party made little effort to hide their embarrassment upon leaving.
Because football itself has to go on the backburner when we ought to be discussing a Tottenham performance of some promise, here is how the game turned. Spurs were ahead through Lucas Moura’s first-half goal when, as the minutes ticked down, a Newcastle free-kick was arrowed towards the substitute Andy Carroll. He won the header just inside the penalty area and planted it against the upper right arm of a helpless Eric Dier, who was less than a yard in front and facing away from the ball. Dier’s limb was angled slightly away from his body as the ball struck him just below the armpit line. Carroll appealed immediately, but he was alone in that and the referee, Peter Bankes, was unmoved; Spurs went straight down the other end and there appeared scant prospect of anything contentious.
Written by Nick Ames at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/sep/27/tottenham-newcastle-united-premier-league-match-report under the title “
“. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
